O'Reilly's
(GPS
-28.230364,153.135075)After the good weather of our trip so far, the
conditions on our last night and following morning in Cairn's
were a bit of a shock to the system, with rain! Although still
warm, it was raining heavily as we departed Cairns on a morning Virgin
Australia flight to Brisbane. The flight was fine and on-time
and we picked up an Avis hire car at Brisbane Airport without
any problem, only to find it was still raining and distinctly cooler.
We didn't know it at the time, but the rain was to last for most of
the next three days!

Having collected the hire car, we then laid in
a course to O'Reilly's on my faithful TomTom and we were off
driving through rain the whole way. The journey was initially on
dual carriageways/motorways but we soon turned off these for the
inland route towards O'Reilly's that is a Rainforest "Retreat"
up in the hills of the Lamington NP about 80miles (2hrs) to the south of Brisbane.

We stopped briefly to stock up on provisions at a soggy Canungra, which is
near the start of the narrow road to O'Reillys that leads up into the hills.
Just before the climb started we saw a few bedraggled Gala
Parrots on wires by the road and had brief views of
Wonga Pigeons
as we ascended up towards the clouds. We also had glimpses of
birds with yellow rumps that we later learned were Eastern
Yellow Robins.

On arrival at O'Reilly's, which is at the top of
the hill and the end of the access road, the temperature had
dropped to a cool 12C° and it was still raining. More like Scotland
than Australia! We checked in and drove round to the Rainforest
View villa that we had booked - imagining an extensive vista
across the rain forest. However this was not the case -
the villas in this category have no view at all, other than the
very edge of the forest. We phoned reception to explain our
disappointment and, as it was a quiet time of year, managed to
get a free upgrade to the type of villa we thought had booked -
called Valley View. This was much better! It was very large,
with extensive decking that had superb views over the rainforest
and valley below. The deck even had a spa bath on it - not much
use when it was cold and wet though! By far the best
accommodation we had on this trip, albeit probably the most
expensive.

We saw few birds that late afternoon/evening in
the poor conditions - only a bedraggled Crimson Rosella
that arrived on our deck - no doubt expecting to be fed.

Guiding - day 1 There was heavy
rain overnight, and it was still raining in the morning. We had
a quick breakfast in our villa, when we saw King Parrot,
Regent Bowerbird and female Satin
Bowerbird on the deck!

We then headed
over to the centre to meet up at 07:00 with our guide, Matt, who
had driven up from the coast, for about 3.5hrs of guiding. There
were both Satin and Regent Bowerbird
around the entrance and we were then driven off for the
guiding. The first good bird was a Bassian Thrush
on its nest by the road - which we would never have spotted
without a guide. But the weather and light was very poor for
photography - and stayed that way for most of the day. We then
had a few glimpses of Green Catbirds flying
across the road in front of the car before walking down a track
to a colony of Bell Miners. Another stop
produced Grey Shrike Thrush, Grey
Butcherbird and a Tawny Frogmouth
on its nest.

Grey Butcherbird
(click to enlarge)

Grey Shrike Thrush
(click to enlarge)

We had been told
by Carol, of Kingfisher Park Birders Lodge, that Duck Creek
Road was the place for various new species so we asked to go
down there. Unfortunately, our progress was halted by a tree
across the track - that had come down in the night. So that put
paid to any prospects for Pardalotes etc.

Area around the
centre If you like your birds colourful, exotic and
above all tame then the area around the centre at O'Reilly's is the place to
be! It was ideal for photography,
although made more challenging by the rain and poor light.
Early in the morning, just outside the main entrance is good for Regent Bowerbird coming in to
be fed. There were also Satin Bowerbirds around
but they were less obliging.

Regent Bowerbird (click to enlarge)

There used to be Satin Bowerbird
bowers in the nearby car park, but we were told there were none
there any longer. However during our first day's guiding we were told
of the site of a bower that was currently occupied and was close to
the central buildings. The owner was apparently famous, having
starred in a David Attenborough programme for which the camera
crew had been in residence for a month. We on the other hand
only had two, mostly rain filled days!

After the guiding, this is the place we headed.
Here we easily found the bower and its builder was in residence!
We also came back here the following day, but both times the
conditions were poor (rain and bad light). It is a remarkable
testament to the capabilities of modern digital
cameras and lenses that any worthwhile images could be obtained
hand-held. The high ISO ability of the 7D Mk II (for frame
filling subjects) and the four-stop IS on the Canon 100-400 Mk
II lens (& its close focussing capability) both played their part in allowing these photos to be
obtained.

Satin Bowerbird (click to enlarge)

Between the main reception and the large car park
there is a grassy area, with a small roped off area that is
designated as the bird feeding area. Feed can be purchased from
the visitor centre between 11am and 3pm, I think. The birds are
hand tame and descend on anyone with feed - perching on their
heads, arms etc! The main species are both brilliantly coloured,
even in the rain - Crimson Rosella and
King Parrot. These birds can also be found all over
O'Reilly's and come into the visitor centre cafe and even the
villa decks looking for food. So plenty of photo opps -
particularly if you have a close focussing lens.

Crimson Rosella (click to enlarge)

Another delightful bird to be found hopping
around the visitor centre/cafe area was Superb Fairy
Wren.

King
Parrots (click to enlarge)

King Parrot

Superb Fairy Wren
(click to enlarge)

Probably the most sought after bird at
O'Reilly's is the extremely localised Albert's Lyrebird,
which naturally I was keen to see. Connecting with them can be a
matter of chance, but fortunately we found them relatively
easily and had 3 separate encounters. The first was of a couple
of birds close to the path at the start of the track to Mick's
tower (a location recommended by our day 1 guide, Matt). But
these were in dense cover and moving fast with no photo opps.
The second was quite by chance and was more obliging - seen from
the car at the top of the side road down to the villas (the bird
was on the
track that runs parallel to the main road). We were put onto the
third by a helpful member of staff who passed by when we were at
the Satin Bowerbird's bower. It was near the staff buildings
that are beyond the main reception building (quite close to the
start of the track to Mick's tower).

Albert's Lyrebird (click top left and above to
enlarge)

Guiding - day 2 When we booked
here, a year previously, I had requested two half days of
guiding, which had been confirmed a little later. Hence I was
not impressed when I received an email while in Australia,
saying that the second day had been cancelled. Talking to
others, it seems that O'Reilly's currently have something of an
issue with availability of guides. Nevertheless, I complained
saying we had booked this so long ago, and were coming 12,000
miles etc etc. After some further exchanges with a more senior
member of staff, a short 2hr guiding session was organised for our second
morning.

Arriving at the reception area at 06:30 we met
our second guide - the amazing and entertaining Glen who had
clearly been at O'Reilly's for many years, and had personally
hand-tamed several of the local birds who recognised him and
came when called! With only a couple of hours available, Glen
chose to stay in the area around the centre. Initially he took
us out along the Main Border Track where he introduced us to
'his' Eastern Whipbird - the only hand tame one
in the world, Glen reckoned! Others birds readily seen from this
track included Eastern Yellow Robin,
White-browed Scrubwren and Yellow-throated
Scrubwren.

Eastern Whipbird
(click to enlarge)

Yellow throated
Scrubwren

Eastern
Yellow Robin (click to enlarge)

A more difficult
bird to see well, let alone photograph, was Southern
Logrunner that crept around on the ground feeding,
never staying still and usually well hidden in vegetation or
leaves. Eventually, I got a just about acceptable image by
turning the ISO up to 12800!

Southern Logrunner

At the end of this guiding session, Glen took us
past the car park, and back along the approach road a little way
to a spot where Rose Robin had been seen
recently by others. Here, the bird appeared but very briefly and
never stayed stayed put for more than about a second - so I
never even got my bins on the bird, let alone the camera!

Summary Despite the awful weather, our stay at O'Reilly's
was one of highlights of our trip. At least it brightened up for
our last evening! It is a great place for tame, colourful
and exotic birds and taking photographs of them. Species
diversity may not be that high, based on our experience, but the
quality of those present, and their tameness, more than makes up
for it. Definitely a must visit location if you are in the
Brisbane area and surely one of the great locations for birding
on a world scale. Comparable in some ways to the Asa Wright
centre in Trinidad, which we visited in
2015 - both are based on remote, venerable buildings with
long traditions and great birds.

The villa we were upgraded to
(Valley View) was in a separate area away from the main
buildings and was great - by far the best accommodation of
our trip, albeit with a price to match. When the weather
finally improved on our last evening, the deck with its
spa was a splendid place to relax and admire the extensive
views over the rainforest covered valleys and hills below.
There was even a partial sunset to enjoy. The villa itself was
very spacious with a fully equipped kitchen. The dinner we
had in the restaurant back in the main building was OK -
but self-catering was very practical in the well equipped
kitchen and more economical!